Noel Edmonds has increased his claim against Lloyds Banking Group to £300million in a fight for compensation after he fell victim to fraud at the hands of former HBOS Reading staff.

The former Deal Or No Deal host had initially been seeking about £50million to £70million after his business Unique Group was ruined by the fraud, but a new statement issued by him confirms the claim has been ramped up significantly.

Edmonds' raised claim is three times the amount Lloyds has set aside for compensation.

Game show host Noel Edmonds is leading a public campaign against Lloyds

Lloyds, which rescued HBOS at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, set aside £100million for customers affected by the fraud.

A Lloyds representative responded: 'We are determined to compensate customers appropriately, swiftly and as fairly as possible.

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'While we cannot comment on individual cases, we have set aside £100million as a provision to cover the total expected redress cost. This remains our best estimate, but if we need to increase this amount we will absolutely do so.

'If anyone has new information about the fraud at HBOS Reading, it should be passed to the police and the regulator.'

The bearded entertainer claimed the scandal took place on an 'industrial scale' and described a review being carried out by the bank into the scandal as a 'cynical ploy to keep victims' compensation pay-outs to the bare minimum'.

The TV star said: 'The trial judge and the police have always maintained that the criminal activities went far beyond the 'Reading 6' and we have documentary evidence to support their views.

'Lloyds have also been accused of actively blocking police enquiries, which is why my lawyers are sending the Thames Valley Police our documentation which I believe suggests the HBOS/Lloyds criminal activities were actually conducted on an 'industrial' scale.'

Lloyds set aside a £100 million for customers affected by the fraud

The corrupt bankers were jailed earlier this year for the £245 million loans scam which destroyed several businesses, before they frivolously spent the profits on luxury holidays and high-end prostitutes.

Edmonds is leading a public campaign against the lender, which has seen him admit that he came close to taking his own life following the fraud.

The game show host claimed: 'We now have documentary evidence to support the view of Thames Valley Police, the judiciary and the CPS that the HBOS criminality extended far beyond the 'Reading 6'.

'This explains why Lloyds created the secretive review process in an attempt to limit their liability to a very small number of victims when of course, as they are well aware, the true figure is in the thousands.'

The lender said last week that thirty customers have either now received a compensation offer or are in the 'detailed stages' of assessment and will receive an offer shortly.

Edmonds' solicitor Jonathan Coad, from Keystone Law sent a submission of his findings to the bank's review, headed by Professor Russel Griggs, and also to the Thames Valley Police and the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards.

Edmond's claimed, 'Lloyds are about to discover their Griggs Review, a cynical ploy to keep victims' compensation pay-outs to the bare minimum, is like trying to plug an active volcano with a cork.'

Coad said, 'The Griggs Review has all the characteristics that you would expect from a bank which has tried for years to cover up the cynical fraud committed against its customers by its own managers and is still determined to evade its legal and moral responsibilities to those it has so grievously wronged.

'I have also sent the submission to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards because of the growing body of evidence that there is a historic rotten culture at Lloyds which it is now doing all it can to cover up.

'I hope that the Commission will use its powers to root that culture out once and for all.'